Rainy Day in Salt Lake City: Is the Natural History Museum of Utah Worth It?

It is raining in Salt Lake City, you have the afternoon with the kids, and you want one indoor place worth the drive. The Natural History Museum of Utah earns that spot if your kids light up at dinosaurs, rocks and gems, or a hands-on room built for the youngest visitors. The museum says an average visit runs two to three hours, though you can stay until it closes, so the real question is what your kids are into and whether the ticket price works for your day.

You can open the KidPaths listing as you read: Natural History Museum of Utah.

Is it the right rainy-day pick for your family?

So who is it for? A dinosaur-obsessed kid has Past Worlds, a rock-and-gem kid has the Gems and Minerals hall, and the youngest visitors have Our Backyard.

Admission is paid, with a few free categories, including children two and under and museum members, so for a full-price family of four it is a real line item.

If none of those three draws fits your kids, or the full-price family total is more than you want to spend on one rainy afternoon, this is probably not today's pick.

What your kids will actually do inside

Past Worlds is the heart of a dinosaur visit, and it is free with admission. Kids can try the dinosaur dig, cast a vote in the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry mystery, and see dozens of skeletal reconstructions, including a Gryposaurus made from original fossil material. They can also watch staff and volunteers prepare specimens in the museum's active paleontology preparation lab.

The Gems and Minerals hall displays minerals in their rough forms alongside cut gemstones, includes minerals that fluoresce, and suspends twelve vertical feet of minerals in front of you.

For the youngest kids, Our Backyard is a quiet, sensory-friendly room where they can crawl, splash and race boats down a water table, then look closely at the insects and animals that live in Utah. One catch for summer: from June through August it is closed to the public Monday through Thursday for summer camps and open only Friday through Sunday, so plan a summer weekday visit around that.

These three galleries are part of twelve permanent exhibitions spread across four levels, so there is more to see. The Great Salt Lake gallery, for one, uses hands-on interactives, sounds and smells, a view of the lake, and a close look at its smaller creatures.

What it costs

General admission is $24.95 for adults, $22.95 for seniors 65 and over and for young adults 13 to 24, and $20.95 for children 3 to 12. Children 2 and under and museum members get in free. University of Utah students, faculty and staff with a valid ID also enter free, and students need to be currently enrolled. For a family of two adults and two children ages 3 to 12, that is two tickets at $24.95 plus two at $20.95, which comes to $91.80 before any member or student discount.

When to go and how to get in

The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week and stays open until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays. Tickets are not honored after 4:30 p.m., or after 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, so give yourself real time before close.

On a rainy school day, know that the museum hosts school field trips most weekdays during the school year and calls Saturdays lively, so it suggests weekday afternoons after 1:30 p.m. or Sundays for a quieter visit. It also closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas, closes early at 3 p.m. the day before each, and shuts for its annual fundraising gala and all-staff retreat, so check the museum's hours and closures page before a holiday-week visit.

One access note for strollers: the walk from the parking lot up to the entrance is uphill, with footpaths, stairways and ramps, and drivers can drop passengers at the turnaround before parking. Children under eight should not be left there without an adult.

Check tickets for your visit.

Then open the Natural History Museum of Utah listing to plan your visit, or browse the Salt Lake City page for more local options.